


Tales of the Miraculous- Feudal Edition

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Drama & Romance, F/M, Genderbending, Genderswap, Kinda like one of those samurai romance dramas, Previous Chat Noir, Previous Chat Noir and Ladybug, Previous Ladybug, Teen Romance, except Miraculous Ladybug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 08:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20525306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Adrien and Marinette weren't the first Chat Noir and Ladybug, and they most certainly won't be the last.Delving back centuries before the modern iteration of the superheroes, to a time in Japan ruled by samurai and political upheaval, a local baker's son and a daimyo's daughter find themselves gifted the powers of the historic dynamic duo, and are forced to navigate their newfound responsibilities while also keeping their true identities under wraps.





	Tales of the Miraculous- Feudal Edition

The daimyo’s palace- it was an overbearing piece of architecture that always seemed to loom over him, no matter where in the village he may be. 

Ever since Marin and his family moved here just a few months ago, that had always seemed like the one thing he thought he’d never get used to. From fetching groceries at the markets halfway across the village, to delivering hand-sewn kimono to his next-door neighbors- no matter what, it had always seemed as though the palace itself was eyeing his every move. The large windows and balconies that adorned the building would make one think that there’d be at least some level of transparency between those outside and within it, but so far it seemed to be more like a single-sided mirror.

“Marin, you’re staring again.” Alan spoke up from beside the blue-haired teen as he unintentionally stared up at the palace with an owlish, and vaguely accusing, gaze.

“Ah, sorry, can’t help it- I was just thinking it would be cool to sketch, you know? Our last daimyo had a palace, but it wasn’t nearly that big.” Marin tried to sound invested in his own excuse, but fell short once he caught wind of Alan’s knowing smile.

“No worries, I get it, i’ve been here all my life and it still freaks me out sometimes too. There used to be an urban legend that the daimyo died a long time ago and is haunting that place ever since.”

Marin let out an amused “ooh” at Alan’s accompanying spooky hand gestures, sharing a smile with a brunette before tilting his head up towards the palace once more.

“So have you never actually seen the daimyo leave? Or anyone else besides his servants?”

The stoic-faced samurai and attendants, all adorned in the same matching black-and-gold kimonos, used to be a heart-stopping sight for Marin when he first arrived- no one had warned him about the quiet servants to the daimyo that would come and go from the palace, and always seemed to disperse themselves well enough that there would be at least one on any of the village’s main roads. Although, after the first couple of heart attacks, Marin and his family got well-enough accustomed to the sight of them that they could rest easy at night- he had even gotten into the habit of sharing the bakery’s leftover unsold pastries with some of them at the end of the day.

“Hmm, not in-person, but there are businesses around here that are invited to help the palace with stuff from time to time- like catering for the fancy parties they have, or weapons for their samurai, or helping tailor stuff and boring tasks like that. The village is always abuzz with gossip and rumors about him and his family after people come back from stuff like that.”

Alan hardly seemed too interested in the topic himself, flippantly waving his hand about as he eyed one of the books that a kind young lady was trying to sell. Still, despite his disinterest, Marin couldn’t help but press further.

“What kind of rumors? More ghost stories?”

“Yeah, a lot of crazy stuff like that, but there are some realistic ones that have been around in the past- like apparently he had a wife at some point, and she just disappeared one year? And he also apparently has a daughter that’s around our age, but it’s not like i’ve ever seen her either. I don't know, maybe she’s also a ghost.”

Marin blinked owlishly at Alan, as if awaiting some sort of further explanation, but Alan simple shrugged in response.

“What? That stuff is relatively normal compared to what else you’ll hear about him- but they could both be fake for all I know. If you’re really all that curious why don't you just be a good neighbor and knock?” Alan teased, rolling his eyes as he finally dug into the coin pouch at his side to pay for the book that had been catching his eye.

Marin huffed, disappointed at Alan’s words, but now even more curious than he had been beforehand. Glancing up towards the palace once more, Marin could almost surely make out a silhouette in one of the windows, it's presence ephemeral and fleeting, as he only seemed to be able to blink twice before he could no longer make it out anymore. Rubbing his eyes, unsure of what he might’ve seen, the boy could've sworn that someone was staring out of the vacant windows that had been looming over him since he arrived in his humble village.

As the days came and went, the chillier winter air has since given way to a considerably warmer breeze, now accompanied by stray cherry blossoms and the welcome aroma of freshly bloomed flowers. Marin was quite enjoying the routine that he and his family had settled into- he would wake up early in the morning to help his mother with sewing and tailoring kimono, he would do this until the sun was high in the sky, when the bakery was usually busiest, where he would then opt to assist his father. When the sun would begin to disappear over the shingled rooftops, and the sky was painted in this vibrant orange hue that he just couldn’t get enough of, Marin would take on delivery-duty and go about the neighborhood delivering baked goods and newly-sewn kimono around the village. His job usually wasn’t done until the moon reared its head over the rooftops on the opposite end of the road. He would go to bed content and exhausted, surrounded by the sketches of floral kimono and the stray cats that would loiter about the bakery porch from dusk until dawn.

Marin was content with this cycle,and enjoyed how the satisfied smiles of customers became such a common sight throughout his day- he had even gotten better acquainted with the locals this way through their repeated interactions with the family businesses.

However, the arrival of one customer left him stumbling through the routine that he had once believed he had gotten the hang of.

It began shortly after he had returned from the last of his deliveries for the day- the bakery was closed and he was scrounging up the last of the day’s pastries to feed to the stray cats out front, when all of a sudden a shriek rang out from outside, followed by the sound of something falling to the roadside. Concerned that perhaps someone elderly had fallen outside, Marin quickly rushed out to be greeted with the usual plethora of stray cats gathered on the front porch, all aggressively eyeing a demure hooded figure as they backed away in the dirt.

“Okay, okay, shoo- no harassing the customers, you’re going to make us look bad.” Marin scolded as he used the porch broom to chase away the lingering strays. “Sorry, not many people come around this time, they probably thought you were here to steal their treats.”

He reached a hand out to help the woman as she stared off in the direction they had fled to, the corners of his lips twitching upwards when he heard her hushed laughter.

“Well, they probably had the right to it, I was curious why it smelled so good around here.”

She looked up to smile at him as she accepted his offered hand, using it to hoist herself up off the dirt, and in that moment Marin temporarily forgot how to breathe.

Striking green eyes meet his, framed by stray strands of golden spirals that were so foreign around here that he momentarily thought to confuse her for one of those illustrations of foreign princesses from some books Alan had lent him. Soft, cherubic features left him fearing that perhaps if she’d shatter if he gripped her had a little too tightly, and so he wound up unintentionally flinching his had away as soon as she was up. She didn’t seem to initially notice the awkward gesture, or the unintentional gawking, as she quickly made work to brush the dirt off her dark hooded cloak as soon as she was righted.

“Thank you for your help, that was really nice.” The stranger spoke, bowing low in appreciation, and Marin couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat at the humble gesture.

“U-uh...Oh! Yeah, no big deal, it’s what I do… save girls from cats.”

“Oh? Does it get you a lot of business?” She said, tilting her head and gazing up at him in genuine interest. The sheer sincerity with which she responded to his awkward fumbling was somehow both relieving and stress-inducing all at once.

“Uh, n-no, believe it or not. Bread and cookies are, um, what actually keep things running.”

The soft and sincere “ooh” she let out made his face feel scorching hot, and he felt himself feeling at a loss without the brisk spring breeze to cool his skin.

“Oh, yeah, I meant to ask you about those- I know it’s late and everything, so I’m not sure if you even have any left, but i’d love to try something if you do. I’ll pay, of course.”

Marin nodded enthusiastically, not trusting himself to speak at he rushed to stow away the broom he still held and guide her into dimly-lit bakery front. It was hardly anything impressive, most all of the pastries were gone from the wooden displays and his mother’s hand-sewn tapestries were all it had going for it in terms of decor, and yet the girl still seemed overwhelmed as she spun around to observe everything.

“Aww, how cute, it’s a lot cozier than I expected.” With the dazzled way she spoke, one would assume she had never walked into a bakery before. Marin obviously didn’t voice this observation, keeping it much to himself as he scoured for whatever few goods they had left remaining to offer, but he still couldn’t help but peek up every now and again to watch her run her hands along the freshly-cleaned tables, and lean in close to observe the delicately-woven patterns of the aforementioned tapestries that adorned the walls.

“Um, we only have some bread and cookies left, if you don't mind?” Marin spoke out, nervous to break this delicate, comfortable silence that had fallen between them as they both distracted themselves in their tasks.

“I don't mind one bit, it’s my fault for showing up so late after all.” The girl drummed her fingers together under her chin as she eyed the treats that Marin had begun assembling into a small bag for her to take. He caught her tongue momentarily peeking out to lick her lips in anticipation, and a smile helplessly bloomed on his face as he was reminded of a crucial part of the transactional process.

“Oh, right, it’ll be this much…” Marin wrote down the meager amount of coins it would cost altogether for the baked goods and slid the paper over to her. He wasn't anticipating the way her eyes seemed to scrutinize the paper before a veiled panic seemed to overtake her features. The cost hardly amounted to much, but Marin hadn’t thought to consider that perhaps she couldn’t afford it? As she seemed to scramble around the inside of her cloak, he couldn’t help but take pity on her- maybe the reason she was out this late in search of food was because she was hoping it’d be cheaper to buy the food he was planning on feeding to the cats anyway?

“Hey, if you’re going through tough times I have no problem just giving these to you-”

“No! I got it!” The girl seemed very adamantly against his suggestion, a thin crease forming between her eyebrows as she redoubled her efforts to rummage in what sounded like a coin purse underneath her cloak. The heavy jingling of coins on its own indicated that this girl was hardly broke, and he very quickly shut his mouth as she took out a messy handful of golden coins that she dropped on the counter between them, glancing between them as if unsure of what she had done. “Um, I can do this, right?”

Marin’s brain short-circuited as his eyes switched rapidly back and both between the amount he had written and the generous offering she had given him. The discrepancy was so great that Marin was unsure of what math the girl had utilized to arrive at the conclusion that the literal handful of polished gold coins that sat between might not have been sufficient for the meager amount of partially-stale bread and cookies he had bagged for her.

“...This is a lot.” He replied intelligently, blinking as he shook his head and laughed nervously. “Um, i promise you the bread isn’t that good.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, can’t you just keep the leftover if I give you too much?”

“I mean, yeah, I can, but this is more than ten times what I asked for- it’d feel more like I was robbing you.”

The girl nodded along to his words, attentive but not quite seeming to understand what was wrong with what she had done.

“Oh, no, it’s fine! I have plenty more coins at home, but no homemade bread or cookies, so it’s basically like we’re even now.” The girl seemed pleased with herself as she nudged the small pile of coins further in his direction, meanwhile he was at a complete loss for words.

Just who was this girl? Some general’s daughter? 

“U-um, if it’s really no trouble, then I guess these are all yours.”

Copying her motion by nudging the bag closer to her, she seemed eager to swipe it off the counter, appearing proud of herself as she smiled at him brightly.

“Great! I can’t wait to try them!” Glancing back at the windows behind her, and seeing how high the moon had risen, the blonde stranger seemed very anxious to leave. “I really should get going now, wouldn't want to keep you up much later than I already have.” The girl was already backing out the door as she was saying this, hardly giving Marin the time to respond before she was already waving back at him. “See you some other time, Cat-boy!”

Just as suddenly as she appeared she was gone, leaving only a meager fortune’s worth of coins behind as proof she was ever there to begin with.

That night, instead of floral kimonos and stray cats, the sketches that surrounded his futon as he went to bed were all of the same cloaked angel, eyes a brilliant emerald and hair tinted gold like the sun.

Alone in her ornate bedroom, the moonlight streaming through the thin gaps between the curtains, a blonde girl hummed quietly to herself as her room was flooded with the pleasant aroma of baked goods. Crumbs littered her workspace as she wrote delicately in her journal, detailing events of a horde of stingy cats, a baker’s son swooping in to her rescue on a broom, and of the meager cost it took to bring home treats that gave her the closest thing she could liken to the sensation of “home”.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to tell me about any grammar/spelling mistakes, or anything that's just confusing to read :)


End file.
